Are the Anfield Chairmen pulling a fast one?

A lot of feedback both from reds with the red-tinted glasses and those without to the article I published yesterday.
http://www.anfield-online.co.uk/lfc-news/2007/07/07/are-the-anfield-chairmen-pulling-a-fast-one/

If you can be arsed to read it all I recommend it as there are some good posts and even though some people have interestingly called it 'sensationalism' I actually think it's something a lot of Liverpool fans are actually worried about - that the Americans did all the talking but may not come up with all the doing.

What do you think? Either add your comments on the site or here.

the Americans did all the talking but may not come up with all the doing.

What do you think? Either add your comments on the site or here.

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Only days after the reds broke their transfer record for an upfront fee of around £20 million, George Gillett and Tom Hicks will get back around £16 milion after the proposed transfers of both Djibril Cisse to Marseille and Craig Bellamy to West Ham United.

Djibril’s deal, which was due to be tied up last weekend now looks almost done - the player having agreed personal terms with the French club. West Ham meanwhile are closing in on Craig Bellamy as they look set to lose Carlos Tevez to Manchester United.

With around £3 million banked from the Luis Garcia sale - it appears that Liverpool’s new owners have pulled off the perfect media trick - breaking the record transfer fee without spending any money.
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Firstly " it appears that Liverpool’s new owners have pulled off the perfect media trick - breaking the record transfer fee without spending any money."
I think that is a sign of shrewd businessmen. Why go spending money hand over fist when it makes clear sense to cash in on players surplus to requirement. While it may appear they have more money than sense it clearly isn't the case. To bag a player of Toress' quality (and in deed if he produces the goods) without spending any money is an ideal situation in as much as it frees up the exact sum to to spend on other potential transfers.

Secondly - "Rafa may well be happy that he got his man in Torres, but as Malouda looks set for Chelsea, Tevez prepares to head off to United and Liverpool again appear to be slipping amongst the also rans one question remains at the very forefront of our mind, Where’s our transfer budget Tom and George??"
Players are being signed here, there and everywhere during the transfer window and while a million people may want us to sign this player, a million may not. Seeing potential targets sign for other clubs may be alarming to some but Rafa is no idiot. He has his own ideas and if signing Torres is not an indication of what is possible then we are all going to fall into the pit of disbelief. Yes we have yet to see Tom and George flash the cash and this is why I have responded to

the Americans did all the talking but may not come up with all the doing.

MAY NOT is not HAVE NOT and there is a big difference between those two statements - 23 May until midnight of 1 September 2007. Utd spent 50 million almost as soon as it was possible to do so but that's their business and should not have any bearing on the choices Liverpool make!
We still have over half the transfer window left.
Patience is a virtue, In Rafa (and Tom and George until they prove otherwise) we trust.

And now let the football begin... Time to turn the e.season console on for the first time since we signed Torres and watch Liverpool FC for the 1st time since the last time, in Athens 
Come On You Reds 

if we do not get x2 class pacey tricky wingers and good cover for a centre back then you can give up on tittle END OFF

if we do not get x2 class pacey tricky wingers and good cover for a centre back then you can give up on tittle END OFF

Thank you for supporting Liverpool FC in your own inimitable style, yet again.  :

this so called journalist is just a wannabe! he just wrote this in order to get our attention

this so called journalist is just a wannabe! he just wrote this in order to get our attention

I wonder if you agree with this comment JD

We have strikers now that are (a) a spanish international (b) a dutch international (c) an english international and (d) a ukranian international who what I can see are a vast improvement on last seasons strikers. If they shoot us to the top and do not cost a penny then it is good buisiness and not a problem to me. Yes I worship Fowler but he was not going to figure in the plans of Rafa this season. If 

I am sorry but have we not already signed key players and younger players?

Are we not linked still to further high profile signings?

Are we having this debate too soon before the end of pre-season?

Answer - YES.


 

if we do not get x2 class pacey tricky wingers and good cover for a centre back then you can give up on tittle END OFF

You do seem to end a lot of your posts with END OFF - It's a shame that someone so sure of themselves that their opinion MUST be correct so it's not worth anyone else commenting, cannot even spell their 'catchphrase' correctly. I think you mean END OF (as in 'end of argument')

The OP has a very interesting point, and is definitely an angle I hadn't considered the subject from before. It does make perfect business sense to do the deals as they have done, but leaves me personally with a bit of a hollow feeling over their promises to splash out the cash.
However as Xabi's post above states, we still have roughly half the transfer window left, so there's still hope we'll see some decent sums of cash being spent, and more quality coming in.

this so called journalist is just a wannabe! he just wrote this in order to get our attention

Do you know who wrote that article? I'm sure JD could point you in the right direction1

It wasn't written for 'sensationalism'. Glad so many people joined in the debate on the site for that article..

May the spending... commence!

I king of agree with the article JD as the transfer fees received will more or less balance out the fee for Torres. But most on the forum would feel that Cisse and Bellamy should have been sold anyway so it's not a decision many of us would disagree with. It is not the owners fault that these transfers have balanced the books, but in saying that I am expecting them to keep there promise of investement and hope that 2-3 top quality players will be signed for the positions needed in the next few weeks. As I don't expect too many more players to be sold this will give us a more true reflection on how much money they are prepared to spend on improving the squad. I will reserve judgment on Gillet and Hicks just for now but as I said before am expecting much more spent in the next couple of weeks.

Well, i was happy for the reaction this article got on the website - the amount of, and to some extent, the content. Think some personal abuse was out of order, but then it's open for public input. I read the article not long after it was published on the website and it only had about five comments on it at that time.

For me, I can see both points of view. Some people will look at it that the new Anfield Chairmen are here and things are improving with the new stadium, a record new signing's been made and a lot of good talk. After so much uncertainty leading up to the take over, a lot of people could assume that things are gonna be rosey and bright now and these facts would emphasise their assumption. In a way - I know this might sound funny - but a lot of people could see 'the new chairmen' as saviours of our club. I noticed one comment referred to the author of the article as "he probably wasn't about in the Shankly era"? Or something along those lines. Well that spoke volumes to me, that that was mentioned. Because to be fair, and we all know it, Shanks was a saviour of our club. BUT, we know that because he 'delivered'! He turned our club around.

So this brings it back to, what I feel, this article was all about. Our new chairmen have been qouted that they are here to win. Fair enough, we all know they want to invest and make money as well, but their agenda is to win. And the league is first on the list.
If you look at it from a different angle, what's been 'delivered' so far on the winning front? Fair enough, we've spent £20m plus on Torres but we're making £14m back on the sales of Bellamy and Cisse. The other signings we've made don't really come into the line of first team quality (although they could, don't get me wrong) to win the league next season. So this talk of the new chairmen pulling a fast one remains to be seen.

That's exactly why, for me, the question was "Are The Anfield Chairmen Pulling A Fast One"

I'm just reflecting on what's already been generated from this article.

My opinion is that it's been far too long since we've won the league. It hurts and doesn't feel right. If things are in place to make us a league winning side again, lets do it NOW!

Thought this topic deserved to be revisited.  As I have just mentioned with the Mark Gonzalez deal I work out our NET summer spending this summer on transfers to be £16 million. (Confirmed Summer Transfers Thread)

I know there is a while to go for some more transfers but... was anybody else expecting around £50 million the way the two chairmen were talking back in Spring?

And did Moores not stipulate in his deal that £30 million would be available to spend this summer on transfers?

I'm just a little bit concerned.

We finished 3rd in the Premiership - the richest league in the World.
We sell out pretty much every game.
We got to the Champions League Final.
A new TV deal (the biggest ever in World football) commences next season.

And we have spent £16 million in an attempt to snatch the title away from a team who have spent over £50 million?

^That post is a joke mate... Think about it

Young signings, First team signings, New contracts, New stadium-redesign, New commercial fella.

The Yanks are doing a boss job upto now, I aint going to get ontop of them for no reason... Pulling a fast one is just a bit of a sad arse title if you ask me.

Our squad is peachy at the moment. No problems here. 2 more players SOUND.

There's no need to make any judgements.

Good point mate.  So far they’ve been doing what they initially promised. They’ve never promised to organise BBQ’s fuelled by £50 notes!

The transfer market is not the only way to show financial wealth, there are plenty of other things that needed sorting out too.

sorry, I had more to say just cant type it all right now...

I suppose the Gonzalez transfer will now add fuel to the 'we're not really spending any money argument'.  Alternatively it could just be a sign that the club is being run better with the decks being cleared of players who are not good enough or have not fitted in.

The real test is what is happening on the pitch and so far it is looking good.  We still have time to get some cover on the left and at centre back.  Otherwise the team looks pretty good.

To be honest all the chairmen ever promised was that rafa would get the players he wanted. Rafa doesn't seem to be complaining so we have to assume he has the players he wants. Also i'd put the net spending slightly higher by my calculations, about £21m if you count all the youth players signed too.

To be honest all the chairmen ever promised was that Rafa would get the players he wanted. Rafa doesn't seem to be complaining so we have to assume he has the players he wants. Also I'd put the net spending slightly higher by my calculations, about £21m if you count all the youth players signed too.

Like Eddie i also feel the Chairmen have done a great job not spending allot of money does not mean it's not there we've bough Torres, Babbel, Yossi, Leiva, Leto and still spent only 21mil i think that shrewed business considering the Mancs payed over 50 Mil for 3 players.

I think we've improved with the players Rafa's wanted and we actually did get the deals done quickly when it actually started.The Plan they and Rafa spoke about seems to have worked and we still have money to chase Heinze or the Chillieni(i think it;s spelt like this)

So this summer alone we've bought 5 players one free transfer and hopefully one defender for under 30mil? i think that's the best business of the summer looking at the players and quality they posses.

"Are the chairmen pulling a fast one" you ask?
I say they just know exactly how to do business going to be a great future if it continues like this.

I dont think we should compare ourselves to the mancs in any way least of all the transfer market because they pay way over the top for players. Hargreaves isn't worth 17 million in my opinion, 12 sounds more like it. And the amount of cash they are willing to give for the Tevez deal is insane! I reckon they are only going for him because we stole the spotlight from them with the Torres deal.

So what I am saying is, we should pay for what the players are worth and not trying to bully like the mancs.

I dont think we should compare ourselves to the mancs in any way least of all the transfer market because they pay way over the top for players. Hargreaves isn't worth 17 million in my opinion, 12 sounds more like it. And the amount of cash they are willing to give for the Tevez deal is insane! I reckon they are only going for him because we stole the spotlight from them with the Torres deal.

So what I am saying is, we should pay for what the players are worth and not trying to bully like the mancs.

Good post exactly my toughts we have bought quality at the right price and still have money left we have done pretty well this summer so far.

Wrap up the summer with Heinze if his available and roll on the opening day of the premiership

Please don't bite my head off on this one.

Personally I feel that Hicks and Gillette have not lived up to their words. They made it sound like that we'd be spending like £60m but instead no where near that mark. Instead we have spent a lot less.

Look at it this way...

In: Fernando Torres (£21m), Ryan Babel (£11m), Yossi Benayoun (£5m) Lucas Leiva (£5m) - Total = £42m

Out: Craig Bellamy (£7m), Djibril Cisse (£6m), Mark Gonzalez (£4m), Sinnema Pongolle (£3m) - Total = £20m

That makes our net spending this summer at around £22m. It's not a bad amount but I think Rafa deserves another £20m to spend in the transfer market while it is still open.

Your thoughts?

On who?

Heinze (7M) will give us the cover we need at Left back and central defence.

Maybe someone else for the right wing.  After that we have a pretty full squad.

On who?

Heinze (7M) will give us the cover we need at Left back and central defence.

Maybe someone else for the right wing.  After that we have a pretty full squad.

7m for cover? not likely!!!

right wing yeah but not much else I reckon

I think something that is often missed here is that there have been very few big money (that represent value for money anyway) transfers done across the whole market this year. For whatever reason, the big names are not moving (or at least not yet) this transfer window, and so it doesn't matter how much money we've got to spend, if the players we need aren't available in the market, then we can't buy them.

I think something that is often missed here is that there have been very few big money (that represent value for money anyway) transfers done across the whole market this year. For whatever reason, the big names are not moving (or at least not yet) this transfer window, and so it doesn't matter how much money we've got to spend, if the players we need aren't available in the market, then we can't buy them.

You're right.

And besides, we usually dont like the kind of players who only move when money is waved in front of their nose (chavs).

BUMP.

Reds 'about' to spend record £6.5 million on defender.

(Oh and we're selling Momo for about £11 million).

Don't ask us about the £4.5 million we just pocketed.

Hey JD, that makes sense sell in Pounds (sterling) and buy in Dollars, they think we're stupid!

If anyone visits the link on Anfield Online at the very top of this thread it really makes some quite interesting reading 6 months down the line.  Everyone queued up at me for 'daring' to have a pop at the owners.

I want them all to go back and re-post a comment now.

Good old G&H ! Quite the economists !

6 months, ok well Im one for looking at this in a pragmatic sense ahem. Should they not be given a little more time to show their worth?? Personnally I think some are jumping to the wrong conclusions here and we should really give them a little more time to prove their worth. Reason being is they are new to the sport and they may not understand the way things work exactly. Albeit they may have scaled down plans for the new stadium, but that could have been for more technical issues than some might suggest.

As we all know I think the media has also got a lot to do with some of the negative furor that has gone along with the over sensationlism of the disagreement between them and Rafa. And this in turn could make people think negativaly about them.
I think they should be given a little more time to prove their worth, and we should wait at least until the end of the season then judge them and see what happens then.

Good point pragmatic,they have 3 weeks otherwise it'll be once a couple of glory hunting tight arsed p***ks.......always .................

Don't ask us about the £4.5 million we just pocketed.

Fingers crossed it's going in that kitty with 'Mascherano' written on the side of it!

I've had this argument time and again with arsehole Blue's who think we've spent f*cking millions! I weighed up each and every outgoing player and incoming player and told them we only basically spent money on Torres last summer!

Never seen the bitter bas**rds so quiet!

(Well, there was a few home games I worked there! They were quiet then too! ) :

You are right Pragmatic that we need to see, but in the last transfer window they spent little over 20 million and considering that were managing to provide about 15m on average in previous summers, I just don't think having them hear for a few pennies is worth it.  After all the increment in TV revenue has to be taken into consideration. I would have liked a supporter to take over that would have understood our sentiment and dealt in the transfer market with his heart.  As much pressure the media and others are trying to put on Benitez, we lost in the last window to Man Utd hands down.  I don't want to wait until the stadium is built, I am very pissed off at the moment so this may be a bit annoying, but i just want to see some attacking players in this transfer window, and quality is paramount.

You are right Pragmatic that we need to see, but in the last transfer window they spent little over 20 million and considering that were managing to provide about 15m on average in previous summers, I just don't think having them hear for a few pennies is worth it.  After all the increment in TV revenue has to be taken into consideration. I would have liked a supporter to take over that would have understood our sentiment and dealt in the transfer market with his heart.  As much pressure the media and others are trying to put on Benitez, we lost in the last window to Man Utd hands down.  I don't want to wait until the stadium is built, I am very pissed off at the moment so this may be a bit annoying, but I just want to see some attacking players in this transfer window, and quality is paramount.

I agree with what you say kenny but is it not fair to bear in mind that they are also shrewd businessmen. If you take a step back and reflect for a moment with regards to the transfer money last season with players going out and players coming in Rafa was very happy with the squad he got and he was overjoyed we got Torres. Now bear in mind that they must have the best interest of the club at heart otherwise they would not have bought it, even as businessmen they must have seen they were in this for a long haul and were not going to make money overnight. Surely being astute and money wise as everyone seems to think it has to be in their interest to speculate to accumalate, and albeit after the offloads it was only 20 mill, Rafa still pretty much got the squad he wanted. Surely its only fair to wait and see what happens at the end of the season and see what happens in the transfer window over the summer, I know Im going make my assumptions then as then they have had a year or more to show what they have got. At this moment in time I have got my reservations about Rick Parry (which I have had for many years)for me he is too slow out of the blocks a lot of the time but to be fair its the transfer market can be a very dangerous place to be, as you are banking on spending a lot of money on particular players that could blow up in your face. But having said that Parry is often slow out of the blocks with most things and does seem to take a very cautious approach to almost everything. But I do reitterrate what I said I think G&H should be given a little more time before everyone starts getting on their back, like I stated in my other post we need to stand together as one at this current time because of all the crap being thrown at us. once the season is over then we can start to look at what is going on with a more critical eye.

Why is every one blaming G&H - who should have done his home work / buy-out due dilligence properly (on in an un-biased way) in the interest of Liverpool Football Club?

Who should have ensured the mid and long term investment model was in place (not be constructed)?

Who should have ensured the stadium plans that were promoted and sent to every corner of the globe could actually be delivered upon BEFORE the take-over?

Who wanted to keep his job knowing DIC would get rid of him?

.... now let me think... oh yes... that would be our beloved CEO who kept his job and is now firmly up the arses of the Yanks (in survival mode), deafening in his silence about Rafa (in judas mode) and counting his broker bonus from Morres (in Rick Parry mode).

R.Investments.Parry (R.I.P.) R US.